Competence-based Academic Degree Systems Offering Exemptions from Coursework in the UK, France, and the Netherlands

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  • 能力評価重視で修学免除の学位授与システムに関する国際比較
  • ノウリョク ヒョウカ ジュウシ デ シュウガク メンジョ ノ ガクイ ジュヨ システム ニ カンスル コクサイ ヒカク

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Abstract

This study investigates special academic degree systems that exempt students from admission requirements and academic coursework in higher education. Moreover, it compares the systems in the UK, France, and the Netherlands to examine the processes and problems that these systems entail within higher education and their methods for evaluating students’ competences. Competence-based academic degree systems are based on the policy of accreditation of prior learning (APL), which assesses students’ competences through “non-formal” and “informal” learning. This study clarifies the actual situation and certain APL features in the three countries. We identified the following APL-related points: 1. APL places greater importance on learning outcomes than on the application to Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) and prior schooling as assessment factors for exemption from coursework. 2. APL uses portfolios assembled by candidates to document their knowledge. 3. APL creates certain crucial problems for IHEs, such as the determination of equivalence between the experiential knowledge and skills that people acquire in their daily lives and the academic skills that IHEs offer in formal courses. EU, OECD, and UNESCO have policies that promote APL in their member countries. Thus, it is inevitable that IHEs will respond to these challenges by presenting their institutions’ special value.

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